Newly retired Carlos Beltran could be the perfect candidate to be the Yankees' next manager

MLB outfielder Carlos Beltran announced his retirement
on Monday, and he has already expressed interest in the
Yankees' managerial opening.

He does not have any experience as a manager, but
neither do several of this offseason's new hires.

Beltran's outgoing personality and reputation for
connecting with younger players provide a sharp contrast with
his would-be predecessor, Joe Girardi.

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It has been just one day since the star outfielder Carlos Beltran
announced his retirement from baseball, but rumors about his
future plans are already flying.

Beltran made the announcement via an emotional Players'
Tribune post, in which he recounted his journey from Puerto
Rico to MLB and contemplated his legacy in the game.

"Muchas gracias, béisbol," the post ended. "I can't wait
for what the next chapter holds."

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Just as Beltran is preparing to start a new chapter in his life,
the New York Yankees are about to begin a new era in their
organization. Joe Girardi, the team's manager for the last
decade, was fired after losing the ALCS to the Houston Astros,
leaving a vacancy in one of the most lucrative coaching jobs in
all of sports. Beltran, who played for the Yankees from 2014 to
2016, was asked about the position shortly following his
announcement, and he could not deny his interest.

"Well, one has to consider everything," he said to Marly
Rivera of ESPN. "That's a great job; a position with an
incredible impact - not only on players that I already had the
opportunity to get to know, but to continue doing positive
things. At the end of the day, yes. It's not every day that there
are vacancies available for managing in the major leagues. Just
think of this - Joe Girardi was there for 10 years. If I get an
opportunity [to interview], I will not rule it out."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been coy about his
team's managerial search, stating that he plans to interview a
wide variety of candidates over an indeterminate period. When
asked, the veteran executive acknowledged Beltran's
interest but did not go into detail, according to ESPN's
Andrew Marchand.

"I am aware of his interest in managing in the future," Cashman
said. "I'll leave it at that for right now."

While Beltran has no experience as a manager, that might not be a
big factor in the Yankees' decision - several new hires from
earlier this fall, including Alex Cora of the Red Sox, Dave
Martinez of the Nationals, and Mickey Callaway of the Mets, are
in the same boat.

What's more, Beltran is a perfect match with the personality
profile the Yankees seem to be looking for. In a conference call
with media members, Cashman stated that the
primary reason for Girardi's dismissal was "about the
connectivity and the communication level of the players in the
clubhouse." Girardi is regarded as an old-school manager, more
concerned with the nuts and bolts of the job than his
interpersonal relationships among the team.

With Beltran, the Yankees would be getting the opposite. In his
retirement post, the 40-year-old wrote at length about the
importance of mentoring younger players, as well as the value of
clubhouse chemistry.

"And as I got older, and I became the player that the younger
guys came to for advice, I started to understand something … that
my purpose in this game is not only to hit home runs or to win
championships," he wrote. "It is to share what I know with the
younger players, like so many other players have done for me. It
is to give back to the game of baseball."

"After we lost Game 5 of the ALCS to the Yankees, I sensed that
the guys were a little bit tense," he wrote of his time playing
for the Astros. "So I called a team meeting, and I just talked to
them in a very casual way. I wanted to loosen them up. And I
guess it helped, because we went on to win Game 7 and advance to
the World Series."

Those passages paint Beltran as a charismatic leader with a knack
for connecting with the clubhouse, which should make him an
enticing option for the Yankees. Even so, the team has already
interviewed the bench coach Rob Thomson and the former Indians
and Mariners manager Eric Wedge, so Cashman has options. The
former third baseman and franchise hero Aaron Boone is also
expected to
interview in the near future.

Cashman said that all candidates will be available to the media
after they interview, a rarity in baseball.